One night in late November, Rasha Abu Ara, a 32-year-old mother of five, was beaten to death and strung from a gnarled tree branch as a gruesome badge of “family honor” restored.

The woman’s alleged sin was adultery, and her killer was either her own brother or husband, security sources told Reuters. Both are behind bars while an investigation continues.

Her murder brought to 27 the number of women slain in similar circumstances in Palestinian-run areas this year, according to rights groups – more than twice last year’s victims.

The rise has led Palestinians to question hidebound laws they say are lax on killers, as well as a reluctance to name and shame in the media and society, which may contribute to a feeling of impunity among perpetrators.

“It feels like something that belongs to another time,” said one young man in Aqqaba who refused to give his name, the first hints of a beard on his chin. “But, it’s standard.”

The mayor begs to differ with one point I made:

“This act has no religion – it comes from closed, tribal thinking left over from an age of ignorance.

…

His brother added: “Islam requires you have four witnesses to prove the act of adultery.

And then you can beat her to death? Then you can hang her up like a gaffed fish?

“Honor killing” is a social menace that occurs throughout the Middle East, though precise figures are often elusive.

In neighboring Jordan, for example, a Cambridge University survey of attitudes among young people published in June found that a third of respondents agreed with the practice.

The researchers attributed the result to low levels of education and “patriarchal and traditional world views, emphasis placed on female virtue and a more general belief that violence against others is morally justified.”

Hmm, what else is a “social menace that occurs throughout the Middle East”? That preaches “violence against others is morally justified”? That espouses “traditional world views, emphasis placed on female virtue”?

Let me think about it.

PS: And Israel is supposed to live with these people? I wouldn’t get near them if they were caged in a zoo (i.e. Gaza).